Faithfully Yours: To preserve and protect
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- Published on Saturday, March 14, 2015
Several years ago, in conjunction with the launching of its Community Internet Site, Neepawa’s Public Library hosted an evening to introduce patrons to the world of virtual vacations. Those who attended were shown how to tour the world without ever leaving the comforts of home.
My how things have changed in 60 years. When I was young, my father subscribed to two magazines—Time, which kept him up to date on world news; and National Geographic which enabled all of us to see pictures and read about places we knew we would never visit in person.
A few years later, I was introduced to World Adventure Tours—a series of two-hour travelogues which were narrated live by the person who shot the film. They were another way to visit places and encounter people who lived thousands of miles from my home.
Now, thanks to YouTube and other internet sites, virtual vacations can be accessed with one click of a mouse. You can take a Mediterranean cruise, travel Europe and Asia by rail, take a commuter flight from Vancouver to Victoria, BC or follow a BBC television crew as they explore the coasts of England, Ireland and Scotland—all from the comfort of your own home.
Personally, I am railroad junkie. My preferred means of travel is by train; and there are hundreds of videos available on line that cater to this addiction. In the last two years, I have traveled the Nordland Line (all 9.5 hours from Trondheim to Bodo, Norway) four times—once in each of the four seasons of the year. I have covered the West Highland line from Glasgow to Mallaig, Scotland; ridden with the engineer of an Inter-City Express train from Paris to London through the English Channel Tunnel (the Chunnel) and accompanied film makers on trips through many parts of Europe, the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
The more I watch these videos, the more impressed I am with the beauty and majesty of the world in which we live. From pole to pole, this earth is a remarkable planet; a living system of plants, animals and people put together by a master designer and creator. If we take the time to look, we will be able to see the beauty that God has built in to every square mile of his creation.
Being impressed with the beauty of nature is one thing. Preserving it for coming generations is another—and that is where we, as a society are not doing as well as we should be.
The first commandment our creator gave us dealt with our duty to care for the world in which we live. “God took the man he had formed,” we read, “and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15) God’s plan for humanity was simple—learn to live in harmony with creation, nurture it and care for it and it will feed you and your families forever.
But that’s not what happened. Instead of living in harmony with and nurturing creation, we have become a society that conquers, controls and exploits everything we see. Now we are beginning to see how much of a mess we have made of God’s wondrous world.
During this season of Lent, God challenges us to renew our commitment to preserve and protect that part of the environment over which we have control. If we all do our part, it will help ensure that our descendants won’t have to rely on videos to experience nature’s beauty. They’ll be able to see it for themselves.
